To worry about living 550m from a 400kv pylon?

[Marsaday]

We've had an offer accepted on a house. Nothing exchanged yet, survey and searches not done either yet as vendors have yet to find for themselves.
We've just discovered that the government have approved a new 400kv powerline which will run approx 550m from the house. It will be mounted on pylons between 36-50m high depending on the type they use.
The house is currently 300m from a 132kv line, which will be taken down and dug under the ground as part of the works.

I am now wondering if I should be worried about being this distance from such a high voltage line. I know there is an increased risk of childhood leukaemia living close, but not sure if 550m falls within this range.
We have a baby and a toddler and obviously don't want to put them at risk.

Also wondering about the buzzing/cracking noise they make when it rains, I'm not sure if you'd hear it at 550m or not. Does anyone know?

I'm also concerned about it making the house hard to sell or massively devaluing it.

Finally I'm not sure about how intrusive the work would be to construct such a line, whether it could mean years of disturbance amd construction traffic for example.

Should I be worried?

[Zaurak]

specialsubject why thank you 😊

[Zaurak]

nutbrownhare

Loads of things. Cells are generally set to a default suicide mode. If they don't get all the correct signals they need to survive then the off themselves (it's called apoptosis and it's fascinating.)
The 'stay alive!' Signals are things like being in the right place - so a skin cell in the bloodstream would kill itself. Also having intact DNA. A cell with DNA damage should kill itself.
Cells pick up colossal amounts of damage every day (10,000 errors per cell per day if you can believe that) and we are pretty damn good at fixing that damage. It occurrs just by living, or exposure to radiation (natural, X Rays, uv light) or by various chemicals. The main risk factor for most cancers is age, because we accumulate damage.
Many genes control cell division and DNA repair - if you have an inborn error in one of these genes, or its damaged in some way, then you district the processes that keep your cells in check. Or if you have an error in one of the suicide/ apoptosis genes then you're more prone to cells not killing themselves when they should.
A normal cell, say one in the gut lining, needs to pick up several mutations before cancer really exists - let's say one to take the brakes off proliferation. Then one to prevent suicide, then one to allow invasion of other tissues. Now our gut cell can grow, and escape the gut and travel to other sites to seed new tumours. The process for gut tumours is generally very long, roughly 20 years. Other tumours need only one 'hit' to get going.

The list of things that can potentially damage DNA is vast. You can avoid a lot of them by:

Never, ever smoking
Drinking lightly if at all
Less red meat
Less sugar
Keep your weight in range
Excercise regularly
Get anything suspicious checked pronto

Most of the rest is age and genetics.

[BeALert]

Ah no - I'm in the US so it's only 9.45pm here. Hope your baby sleeps soon...

[Marsaday]

Thanks bealert
I wonder if you also have a night feeding baby...?
Off to google how far 800 feet is in metres. I have no sense of distance i feet beyond about 6ft (person height)

[BeALert]

I live about 600-800 feet from a 345Kv line. I never notice it at all and it's certainly not had any effect on local house prices.

I've never given a second thought to the effects on my kids. There are dozens of houses that are closer to the lines than me, most of them with children living in them.

A few years ago they replaced all the pylons, and I did hear some sounds when they used explosives. I also remember one day watching them fixing the line from a helicopter, which was pretty cool but a bit noisy.

[Marsaday]

definitelynotajourno this is why i am posting. We sometimes go for a walk on a footpath that goes directly underneath a high voltage line. Close up you can hear it crackle but I've no idea what the impact of living 550m away would be.
The pylons would I guess be visible from the garden and from inside only from a small side window in two of the four bedrooms because of the way the house faces.
The house is about 10 houses from open ground (at the end of the street) and the pylons will run across this open ground rather than near to houses.

[DefinitelyNotAJourno]

I'm wondering if posters to this thread realise just how far 550 metres is. Anyone would think you were talking about fifty!

[Glovebug]

I wouldn't buy a house near a pylon, I think it will impact the resale value

[specialsubject]

Zaurak - thank you. Mn needs more like you!

[Mouikey]

So we often camp at Glastonbury in a field with a similar pylon, my parents house is also close to one. In a tent the buzzing is terrible when it rains but can't hear it at all in my parents house. We looked at a house in a similar situation years ago but decided against it. The value of the house will go down once built or during construction - probably why they are trying to sell now... It will probably be harder to find a buyer long term as they will have the same worries you do! If you love the house and are happy reduce your offer on the basis of the pylons - the vendor will be aware of it.

[Osirus]

Resale value is your biggest problem.

[bluecarpet]

No proven increased health risk but the value may plummet so unless you're getting the bargain of the century I wouldn't.

[nutbrownhare15]

Zaurak can I ask what does trigger or promote cancer?

[Zaurak]

I'm a scientist. My background is in genetics of development and cancer. I know a couple of the teams that worked on EMFs in the early years of mobile phones. There's no link between cancer and EMFs. They looked for years all the managed to do was mildly heat up some tissue.
The pylon research in that link is deeply flawed. It's actually used as a teaching example on how random number are patchy and can give rise to the erroneous assumption that there are cancer clusters.
There is an absolute tin of stuff in our modern environments that can trigger or promote cancer but EMFs 'ain't one.

If the pylon blights your view or the access roads affect you then it might affect property values.

[neonrainbow]

I live right next to a pylon and it doesnt bother me at all. Very occasionally it crackles but i don't notice it.

[littlepeas]

Personally, I wouldn't buy the house. I know that the research has shown then link to cancer to be unfounded, but I would still feel very uneasy. I think others would feel uneasy too, which could possibly affect the value or make it more difficult to sell.

[specialsubject]

Oh, and that full cancer research link actually says that there is no conclusive evidence. The 2001 study referred to e fields INSIDE the home, so if worried you can go electric-free. No thanks...

[specialsubject]

BTW a substation presents no more 'risk' than the electric cables and fields throughout a house.

[specialsubject]

No evidence for health risk. But because scientific understanding is considered geeky, too many will dive for the tinfoil hats (phones tucked under them.. )and you could have a resale issue.

Pylons aren't pretty but we want electricity. Although if they are connected to a wind farm there won't be much of that unless the backup diesel is turned on.

[firtlebunny]

Over half a kilometre away? FFS. YABU.

[Peachy27]

I think if there is the slightest doubt in your mind don't do it. There will be other houses. We once pulled out of a house as it was close to an electricity sub station. I read all sorts of things and couldn't come to a conclusive answer but thought myself, if heaven forbid the children did ever get cancer I would never forgive myself as I would always blame it on that even if in reality it was unrelated.
I loved the house and ended up buying one I liked less but I never doubt for a second I made the right choice.

[AyeAmarok]

YABU. It doesn't cause cancer.

And 550m is pretty far and you won't be able to hear the sound from that distance.

[MrsFrankieHeck]

I would not buy it. A relative and her sibling both had leukemia, at different times, although both in early adulthood, and both times the consultant asked if they lived near a pylon during childhood. They did.

I know this proves nothing but just explaining why I wouldn't.